Costume Mayhem!
by RockBane
Summary: My Contest entry for Halloween 2008 Contest between Firehedgehog and myself. It's suppose to be a short story... I don't even know how it got to be 63 pages long...


Costume Mayhem

**Costume Mayhem!**

A Naruto story

- o 0 o-

Summery**:** Here's my entry for that challenge going on between Fire-chan and myself. So, enjoy! Don't own Naruto at all.

- o 0 o –

Point of View**:** Naruto

"Why do I have to be here again?" The blond ninja known as Naruto asks as he trails his female team-mate into another clothing shop in hopes of finding the perfect costume for this ninja ball that's being held at one of the larger, and safer, training grounds. He hears his pink haired team-mate sigh for the third time since they left the previous shop.

"Na-Ru-To! Shut up! We're LOOKING for _tasteful_ costumes! And that means we're looking for something for you as well! I'll be damned if I let you to show up as lame costume like just showing up in your usual cloths or dressing up as a bowl of Ramen." Sakura lectures at him as she pauses on the side walk.

Before he could retort about that, Kiba walks out of a shop that was where they were standing. "Doesn't matter what you get dress up as, idiot. You'll look dumb in anything you wear." And Akamaru barks in agreement with his human pack member and partner.

Before he can retort to Kiba's insult, Sakura cuts in. "I don't remember a shop being here…" His female team-mate muses and he notices a bag in the dog-nin's hand. "The owner said something about hiring some ninja to build it. Seems that Lady Tsunade sent out a notice throughout Fire country looking for costumes and the owner thought it was a way to make a quick buck. So he moved from his original location to come and set up shop here until after the ball." Kiba explains.

"So, that's a shop dedicated to selling costume, huh?" He asks as he turns to study the shop that he's pretty sure wasn't there while they were walking pass just a few seconds ago. "That's pretty much what I said." Kiba says dryly and he brushes off the comment as he spies a few interesting costumes inside the shop.

"Well, see you losers later." Kiba says before walking away with his purchase, leaving him alone once more with Sakura. Before he has time to enjoy it, Sakura's already letting go of his arm after dragging him into the shop.

Sakura goes straight to the racks that feature what he considers 'girlie' cloths. This leaves him to browse through some racks by himself, though he's not really interested in dressing up. "Perhaps you'd like to try the mystery box? If you manage to open it, you'll get it for free."

Naruto almost jumps up into the air and turns to look behind him. The sight of an unusual looking man stands about half a foot behind him. The man's taller then him, unsurprisingly, with dark brown skin, darker then his tanned complexion as well as a head full of short black hair.

"What kind of costume is in the box?" He asks the guy who he guesses must be the owner of the shop. The owner smiles slightly, showing almost blinking white teeth that seem to stand out even more considering his chocolate coloured skin. "If I told you that, it wouldn't be much of a 'mystery' would it?" The thirty something old owner replies, his hazel eyes sparkling with amusement.

"… Might as well give it a try." He says and the owner nods before leading him to the counter. As he waits for the man to come back, he glances to see how Sakura's doing only to find that she's nowhere to be found.

Then he sees the sign that reads Fitting Rooms. _'Guess she's trying a few of them on.'_ The blond ninja muses as he leans on the counter, facing the door. "Here you go, just open it and it's yours." The owner says walking towards the counter holding a foot in a half tall wooden box with some strange decorations carved on the sides and lid.

Once it's settled on the counter, he stares at it for a few seconds, trying to figure out if there's some kind of catch to this offer. "Well, give it a try." The man says and he sighs but complies.

As he touches the box, a shiver seems to dance down and then up his spine. He takes a hold of the lid and after about a moment of trying to get the lid to open up, it does. He moves the box's top so he can stare into it.

"This is some kind of joke, right? I mean, it's a white horse with a golden horn on its head." He says as he notices the head's features. He lets go of box to allow the man to tip it his way.

"That's a Unicorn costume, it's suppose to have a horn on its head." The man explains with a large, satisfied smile on his face. "What's a Unicorn?" He asks since he's never heard of them before.

"A Unicorn is a mythical beast, a fierce yet good, selfless yet solitary magical creature. A Unicorn is a beast of amazing beauty whose horn is said to dispel poison as well as having other healing properties." The owner says, he blinks as he's not sure what to make of this information.

Before he can asks for more, Sakura exits out of the fitting room dress up in as a priestess, complete with a bow and a quiver of arrows. He cocks his head to the side as he studies the figure of his team-mate with a light blush on his face. Lucky for him, Sakura hasn't noticed his looks or else she'd be furious at him.

"That does seem to suit you but if I may?" The owner says, causing Sakura to snap her head to look at the owner. "What would you suggest?" His pink haired team-mate asks with a slight blush of her own appearing on her face.

He watches passively as the owner moves out from behind the counter with what seems to be a wooden mask painted white and has some red lines on the front to make it look like a fox's face and hands it to her. He watches as the owner also pulls out a strain of beads, he guesses those would be prayer beads as the owner of the shop slips them over Sakura's head. Sakura then slips the mask over her face and turns to look into the mirror.

Soon his team-mate heads back into the fitting rooms to change back into her usual cloths. He closes the lid to his free costume, deciding to keep his mouth shut about how it seems to be a horse costume with a horn stitched onto the forehead. Lucky for him, on the sides of the wooden box were handles so he didn't need to worry about needing a bag to carry it in.

Sakura paid for the priestess costume as well as got a discount on the mask and prayer beads. Without inquiring about what he got as a costume, they headed out of the store. They kind of glanced at each other for a few minutes before they parted, each wanting to get their costumes home as soon as possible.

- - -

Point of View**: **Ino

"So, did you guys hear about the awesome costume store?" Another blond ninja known as Ino asks her fellow team-mates, the lazy ninja ranked Chunin name Shikamaru and Shikamaru's best friend Choji. Arriving at Shikamaru's favourite cloud watching spot, standing over Shikamaru's head with her right fist positioned on her right hip as she stares down at the shadow user.

"Feh, what's the big deal? It's just some moral boosting event meant to help show that we're over the invasion that occurred during the Chunin exam. So why bother getting all fancied up? It's not like anyone's going to care what we dress up as, only that we show up." Her lazy team-mate states in a bored tone. "Wow, Shikamaru, for forgot to add your usual catch phase at the end of that." She states in a sarcastic tone of false amazement.

After an 'ich' from the cloud gazer and more munching sounds coming from the larger member of the team. Ino began to count down from ten before shouting, "Well then! I guess you won't mind telling me what you two plan to dress up as, right?"

"We'll find something later." Shikamaru says, waving his hand, as if doing so could dismiss the subject. "THAT'S IT! Stand up and get moving or else!" She snarls once her anger boils for a few seconds. Within minutes, two thirds of the team were being herded towards the market area.

Once they entered onto the street, she allowed the pace to slow as some of her anger phased out of existence, for now at any rate. It wasn't long before she's fantasying what kind of costume she would look good in which then has the fantasy moves along to what could happen at the up coming ball and Sasuke's reaction to seeing her at her finest. _'I'm sure Sasuke will as me for a dance one he sees me in a different light.'_ She tells herself, though there is a slight spark of doubt about that, but she crushes it and sends it back into the depths of her mind.

After all, she lost Sakura's friendship over the boy, surely Sasuke's worth that, right? Although, if she were to be completely honest with herself, she would have preferred to have remain friends with Sakura then to try to win said boy's affections. In the end, Sakura had made the choice that pursuing Sasuke was more important then their friendship, which as hurt, a lot since it was as if Sakura was devaluing their time together.

With a sigh, she tries to move beyond those kind of thoughts, after all, what good does dwelling in the past does for her now? Nothing since it's highly unlikely that her ex-best friend will see her as anything other then a rival for Sasuke's affections. _'Great, now I'm depressed.'_ She thinks dually to herself.

Whether or not her two team-mates have noted her inner conflict, she wouldn't have notice if they had since she was too busy gazing inwards to pay much attention to her surroundings. "Is that the shop you were talking about?" Choji asks, snapping her out of her thoughts.

They pause as they watch as Neji, Lee, and Tenten walk out of a shop carrying a bag each. "Yosh! I can't wait for the ball! I'll be sweeping my dear Sakura off of her feet, proving that, once more, that a bit of hard work can overcome any obstacle!" Lee proclaims to the world.

Tenten just looks mildly embarrassed by Lee's 'youthful' declarations while Neji nods in their direction as the three older ninja head off, likely heading home with their purchases. She waves bye to the three older genin before ushering her team-mates into the shop that those three exited from. She does briefly wonders what it would be like if one of her team-mates acted as outrageously as Lee Rock does before shivers go down her spine at her musings.

"Welcome young ninja to my shop. There are fitting rooms over at that point," The handsome man says, waving his hand to the area where the sign says Fitting Rooms are. "If you don't find anything of interest, you could always try for a mystery costume by opening one of my special boxes located in the back." The likely owner of the shop adds and she nods before turning to look at what she assumes to be the girl section of the store.

x – X – x

Shikamaru had tried to open one of the owner's mystery costumes off the bat before setting to actively look for something that wasn't so… troublesome to wear, which ended up being a wizard's costume that included beyond the peacock blue robe a staff, pouch of 'spell' ingredients, and a book of 'spells'. Choji tried on costumes designed for large sized people, after trying on twenty seven costumes, her team-mate decided on the one that's labelled to be a 'Minotaur', whatever that was.

And she has yet to find anything that she felt comfortable wearing, even though she's tried on all of the different costumes meant for women. As she glares at the pile of costumes she had put in the discard pile, which unlike Choji numbered only thirteen since some of them she judge clash with her complexion or just wasn't tasteful in her opinion. "Since none of the others … tickle your fancy, why not try to open up the mystery costume?" The handsome and extremely patient owner of the shop suggests to her.

"Sure, why not." She says, sending one more glare in the direction of those costumes with such odd labels as 'Elven' ranger, 'Dryad', 'Naiad', and other such names before turning away from them as she follows the owner to the counter top. Her two team-mates had long since left once it was clear she was going to take a great deal longer to choose a costume.

The wooden box that Shikamaru tried to open is still sitting on the counter top. Odd looking knots were carved on the wooden box along with strangely beautiful assortment of leaves with a strange looking cross with a circle around the mid point. Fainted paint is in evidence on the leaves, the wood looks to be in good condition if a tad old.

"Well, give it a go." The man encourages and she places her left hand on the lid. A slight shiver causes her skin to tingle but the sensation leaves as quickly as it arrived, making her wonder if she even experienced it. Steeling herself, she brings her other hand to try and hold down the bottom of the box while her left works the lid.

As she applies some pressure to the lid, it seems to slide open on its own, revealing a glimmering purple pink costume. As she takes it out, she notices a pair of sparkling transparent wings that seem to change colour depending on how the light hits them, going from white to reddish orange. "It's a fairy costume." The own informs her, she turns to look at the dark skinned man whose standing behind the counter.

"Oh?" She asks with an eyebrow raised once she put the costume back into the box, not that she was going to leave it here just because it was of a creature she's never heard of. "Fairies are generally human in appearance, they're a bit vain about their appearance but considering they're physically perfection, it's a minor detail. They're beings of magic and don't need the usual means that we, mortals, need in order to cast spells. They've been known for their malice when they've been crossed, though they prefer to cause light hearted mischief to keep from being bored." The owner of the shop explains, causing her gaze down into the box, she couldn't help but feel that it symbolized her.

"Well, thanks for the costume. Are you sure you don't want me to pay for it?" She asks and the man shakes his head, declining the offer. "No thanks, you're only the second person who's managed to win a mystery costume." The man says.

As she puts the lid on it, she asks, "Who was the first one?" The shop owner pauses before saying, "Another blond accompanying a pink haired girl. I was fairly surprised when I saw what was in his box." She waits for a few seconds, wondering if he'll tell her what kind of costume Naruto got for free since he's the only other blond ninja that she could think of as well as it wasn't that surprising that he'd be shopping with Sakura, likely so that she makes sure he doesn't end up embarrassing their team.

In the end, some customers entered into the shop, causing her to realize that she had better leave so that they may get the man's full attention. It didn't surprise her that she didn't know who the new customers, other then they were also ninja and a few years older then her. She calls out bye to the shop owner before leaving the store, a glance at the sky show how late it was and she heads straight for home.

- - -

Point of View**: **Sasuke

"Maybe you should try that shop out, after all, the whole point of this ball is to be something that you're not." Kakashi says, arriving in Sasuke's apartment unannounced, much to his irritation as he looks at himself in the mirror. There was a fake ANBU mask covering his face so that his jonin instructor and squad leader can't see his venomous looking glare.

"Last time I check, I'm just a genin, not an ANBU." He says flatly. "But you're still dressing up as a ninja, which is just another rank in the grand scheme of things." The silver haired man points out.

He turns to look at the man, taking off the mask to allow his glare to reach its full affect. Though it seems to work as well as it usual does on his supreme officer, causing the man's single eye to become an upside down U while smiling under his blue cloth mask. "After all, Naruto managed to get his costume for free; maybe you'll be able too." Kakashi adds before slipping out of the open window before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

He holds the mask in his hands, staring down at it with a slight frown on his face as he muses over that bit of news. After all, unlike his pink haired team-mate, the blond hasn't breathed a word about what kind of costume he got from the costume shop when Naruto was accompanying Sakura. A bit of guess work caused him to imagine the likely costume the blond dobe would have chosen for himself, though he's confident that Sakura managed to find something a bit more… not orange for the blond to wear.

'_Maybe I should pay this shop a visit, if only to get an idea of what the Dobe would pick out to wear for this ball.'_ He muses to himself, after all, who says he has to take Kakashi's advice? He puts the mask down on the table before heading into the bathroom to stripe, after all, he's still got his share of stalkers who tend to hang around his apartment complex then try and follow him around, he's glad that it were those from his unofficial fan club that never got the rank of genin, but then, with one of his leading fan girl being on his team, he guesses that Sakura's long since laid out some 'ground' rules about following the team around while doing missions or training.

He'll visit this shop tomorrow since he doubts that it's open after evening has settled in.

x – X – x

'_This shop, it doesn't look too impressive.'_ The black haired ninja known as Sasuke muses to himself as he arrives early in the morning. After a few minutes, he finally made himself open the door and enter into the costume shop.

He notices racks filled with costumes, there seems to be a division going on as one side of the store is dictated to costumes that ran to the female persuasion and the other side towards the male. There weren't any costumes for little kids, mostly for shrimpy preteens to husky size adults, likely meant for Choji's clan to wear. He drifts to the boy side of the shop once he notices that there were fitting rooms for customers to try on the costumes.

More then a few of the costumes had strange labels, like Vampire, Necromancer, Werewolf, Lich which was just a skeleton costume with a robe as well as a few assorted items to go along with it, Monk with staff and prayer beads, and etc. He pauses as he comes across a costume labelled Yamabushi Tengu. This costume includes a mask that had a long and ugly nose to go along with the usual items that a Tengu carries around like a fan and a gourd since the reddish brown robe is suppose to be the magic cloak.

A bit more effort and he finds a Karasu Tengu costume that has a mask more to his liking. It looked like a face of a sparrow since the beak was short and board. He finds a pair of gloves that had plastic 'nails' that look almost like talons as well as a pair of special shoes made to look like bird's feet. Other then the fan, there was a flute to go with it instead of a gourd as well as a navy blue robe symbolizing the magic cloak.

He found the Karasu costume to more to his tastes then the Yamabushi one. Though he did pause and then frown as he recalls his original idea for his costume. "Trouble young ninja?" Somebody asks from behind.

He spins around, a hand already in his kunai pouch until he noticed that the man was a citizen and not armed. Although he does allow his eyes to narrow at the owner as he replies, "I'm just not sure if I really need a costume since I already had one prepared."

The dark skinned man's lips twitch ever so slightly before answering his inquiry, "Well, I believe if you were… satisfied by this costume, you won't have come browsing through my shop, now would you?" He doesn't say anything, knowing that, in a way, the man was right.

Although he felt a bit better at the fact that he can lay the blame on his teacher since if Kakashi hadn't shown up last night and made the comments, he wouldn't have bothered showing up at this shop. In the end, the owner tells him the price for the Tengu costume that he's holding and he couldn't argue that it was bad price, so they walked over to the counter. He paid for the costume and the owner put it into a flimsy box and then into a bag for him.

He leaves the shop in an odd mood since he didn't know what he's feeling over this … shopping experience.

- - -

Point of View**:** Naruto

As Naruto stares at the calendar, wishing that the day was already over since tonight was the night of the ball and those who weren't already on long term missions or guard duty had the day off to get ready. They're to start arriving at the site around four this afternoon; the buffet will be put out around six with dessert likely appear around nine.

With a sigh, he turns away from his calendar to eye the Unicorn costume that he got for free by just opening up the wooden box. He takes his time and studies the costume with a bit more interest then what he did the last few times he gazed on it. He started from the top, studying the head with its horse shapen head and the golden horn on the head's brow. The mane is silver in color and is attached at the top of the head, allowing him to slip into it from the back of the head; there were snaps on either side to hold the mane in place once he has it on his head.

Next he studies the chest part of the costume and concludes that it is made of white spandex, allowing it to form to his body. He turns to look at the hand part of the costume, he already knew that it's a glove but he pays it more attention this time and notices that there's a place for his thumb but for his fingers… There were only two 'fingers' for him to put his hand in and that they're tips are covered in some pale yellow stuff meant to symbolize the hoof.

The lower part of the costume was separate from the upper part as well as also made out of spandex and it had a leather loincloth for him to wear around his waist, to cover up certain parts of his body he rather not be hinted at in public. The bit that goes on his feet were separate from the pant part of the costume, not that it wasn't made from the same material though around the area where his toes go, that same pale yellow plastic material that covers the tips of his glove fingers.

He sums up his thoughts on the matter, "Well, at least it's got that loincloth and I didn't have to pay for it." He then proceeds to put it on. Once that's done, he turns to look at himself in the mirror.

As he looks at himself in the mirror, a sudden wave of coldness seems to hit him from the head and then the sensation spreads downwards, like he was hit with a bucket of really cold water that somebody added ice to. His whole body seems to be come numb and then… it felt as if his body has become clay as he gets this odd sensation as he watches as his body begins to alter in shape.

He watches as the horn shimmers to match the blue of his eyes as his eyes become a lighter blue, a bright sky blue. His legs begin to bend in two places, becoming much like that of a dog or cat's back legs. That plastic pale yellow stuff that had been covering his toes becomes cloven hooves and creamy white in color, paling in comparison to his winter white spurting fur coat with his fur growing slightly longer around his new hooves, adding a feathery touch to them.

The fake mane and tail seem to shimmer for a few seconds as a new color bleed into the mane and tail becoming radiant gold in color. His chest seems to alter in shape as he begins to not just gain height but also the muscles altering to fit what appears to be his new body structure. He could see his new rib cage as he breathes.

After what feels like an infinite amount of time, the changes were finished and feeling begins to return to his body. He twitches his ears and his tail swishes as he gives his head a slight shake. He brings his arms up and begins to ball his hand into a fist and then relax them again.

He moves his tongue over his new set of teeth as he flexes his shoulders. Everything felt new and yet familiar at the same time. "Testing, one, two, three…" He says in his new and a slightly deeper voice, his ears flatten in irritation at hearing it.

In the end, he managed to delay leaving his apartment for about fifteen minutes. Though he can't help but notice that he's a great deal taller then he started out with…

- - -

Point of View**:** Ino

Ino the Fairy couldn't help but giggle as she watches as more people began to arrive in their respective costume. She flutters her wings as she spies Akamaru riding on Kiba's shoulder since the wolf mask is not just covering Kiba's face but the top of his head as well.

She had to admit that showing up as a wolf did suit Kiba and that loincloth around his waist just adds to the effect. The black fur of Kiba's costume likely wasn't helping to keep the dog nin cool, so it's more then likely that Kiba's already sweating underneath that fur suit. It kind of remaindered her of Neji's tiger costume she decides as she watches as Kiba and his partner disappear into the giant tent.

As she flies to another tree, she stops mid flight at the strangest sight she's seen yet. A tall horse like figure walking through the forest followed by a small mob of citizens, while the majority of them were female, she spots a few males among the mob. Something familiar about the figure is what keeps her attention even though she knew she should get into some cover.

As the golden tail flickers the humanoid figure pauses to look behind him, since she doesn't see how the figure could be anything but male… The mob seems to turn to chat among themselves; trying to pretend that they weren't interested in the horse like figure. She watches as the tail flicker once more before it finally clicks as to what caught her attention.

'_Well, well, well, it seems that I'm not the only one that's been… altered. Let's see those golden locks that shade of blue for that horn… I'd say that's Naruto. Huh, well… I could help him out, just this once.'_ She thinks and it's not long before the illusionary monster that she just conjured sends the mob packing, though Naruto gives it a glance but otherwise doesn't react.

"Ino." A much more mature sounding voice that still sounds like Naruto says causing her to wonder how he knew it was her. Naruto turns around and glances up at her, his ears twitching every so often.

"You can see me?" She asks and Naruto hums in agreement. "How did you know I was here?" She adds, the new her giggling as new ideas begins to take root in her mind.

"You're scent… It was all over that illusion and then I heard the fluttering beats of your wings." Naruto says as she comes closer to the other transformed genin. She flushes slightly as she realises that she should have known, after all, Kiba's capable of sniffing out Chakra and he's using a human nose, the muzzle Naruto's sporting likely allows him to smell more then what Kiba's capable of smelling.

"So, what are you? I'm a Fairy." She asks and Naruto seems to get slightly embarrassed by answers, "I'm suppose to be a Unicorn." Her eyes widen at the name, it triggered some new information within her mind and she gawks at him, trying to compare what she knew of Naruto and what she now knows about the beast that Naruto's dressed up as.

She flies around the taller Naruto, examining Naruto's changed body. It seems that Naruto stands a few inches over six feet, that's not including the blue horn resting on Naruto's brow or the tips of his new ears. His hooves were cloven, like a deer and the tail is more muscular looking then that of a horse's tail.

"Well, I must say, considering that a Unicorn is suppose to be a four legged beast, you seem to pull off the two legged stance pretty good." She says cheerfully, giggling as she lands in front of Naruto.

"Well, it's good to know I'm not the maggot of the pair." Naruto says in a light teasing tone. Instead of huffing in anger at Naruto's observation, she giggles, for some odd reason; she wasn't finding him to be as irritating as she usual did.

"So… you plan on doing anything interesting during the ball?" She asks in an innocent tone as she recalls that Naruto used to be quite the prankster back during the academy and for some reason, she felt like pulling a big prank.

"Ino… are you feeling ok? I mean, you're not acting like yourself." Naruto asks in a concerned tone. "Well, I'll admit that since the change occurred, I feel like I'm on a permanent sugar high and nothing seems to make me feel down." She answers truthfully; after all, Naruto seemed highly trust worthy at this moment.

'_It might because of what he is at this moment. After all, we magical creatures have to stick together.'_ She muses to herself as she smiles winningly up at Naruto.

"Well… if we wait a while, then everybody will be in the tent, which means if we do anything, we won't have to worry about anyone walking in on us. So if you really want to pull off a prank, we can start planning it now and then when we're sure everyone's in there, we can pull it off." The humanoid Unicorn says and she couldn't help but agree with that idea.

- - -

Point of View**: **Naruto

How exactly they're communicating over such distances without using a radio was beyond Naruto's current understanding so he just accepted it with a shrug and continued laying out the leaves in the pattern that Ino had shown him.

Once he finish laying the leaves a tingling sensation occurs around him as he spoke, "Ok, I finished my last point." Then he pauses before adds, "Are you sure this will work? I mean, how will using some leaves in a pattern help with this area illusion?"

They've settled on doing a prank by making everyone think they've become their costume, if only to help cover what's been done to them and make it think it wasn't real. Which would likely then allow them free reign within the tent without getting suspicious glances thrown in their direction.

"Trust me, whitey, it'll work." Ino chirps in what seems to be by his right ear. "If you say so sugar, if you say so." He says and is awarded with a giggle.

"I can't believe I never tried pranking before! This is going to be so fun!" Ino chirps once more and he wonders if he did the right thing, encouraging the other blond in this prank.

But in the end, he shrugs it off figuring it's better to help Ino experience what it's like to pull a large scale prank then it was to try and talk her out of it. After all, he knew how strong upset girls are, Sakura's punches aren't that easy to brush off after all. As he was musing about such things, the leaves begin to glow.

A familiar tingling sensation fills the air around him and he knew that Ino's responsible for this sensation occurring as he could… 'smell' Ino's scent all over this energy that's happening before him. A glance downwards reveals that the leaves have vanished and odd looking curving lines were slowly moving about on the ground where he placed those leaves. The lines were glowing an orange colour with hints of yellow around the fringes of the lines.

The curving lines seem to slither around on the ground, balling into knot like shapes before the lines flash a startlingly bright blue color. The lines multiply in number as they snake their way into the air and with another flash, this time in white, the lines swim through the air, heading directly for the tent where the ball is being held.

Oddly enough, as long as he focused on the swimming lines of energy, he could see them clearly until they hit the tent. He stands there, kind of dumbfounded about what just happened. Then he begins to power walk over to the tent as cries of alarm echo out of the tent.

'_It must have worked! Hopefully nothing bad happened.'_ He thinks as he tries to push the worry he feels out of his mind. He slows to a slower pace and meets Ino at the entrance leading into the tent.

They look at each other as panicking voices erupt from within the tent and then they look into the tent. "I think we over did it, Ino." He says to the blond fairy standing to his left as he notices that the supposed illusion had somehow taken their desire for those within the tent to 'think' that they've become their costume, not for them to change into their costume.

"I think you're right… Think we should go in there and fess up?" Ino asks him with her blue eyes wide in shock. "Err… At times like these… I kind of find myself fleeing from ANBU for a few hours before Iruka gives them a hand at capturing me. Then I fess up and take the punishment handed to me." He admits truthfully.

"I like that idea! Let's do that!" Ino declares loud enough for him to hear. He nods in agreement and they both race off, Ino flying through the air while he's running on the ground, not even noticing how his tracks were vanishing as he races through the training grounds, somehow keeping up with the fast pace that Ino's setting.

- - -

Point of View**: **Sasuke

Dressed up in his Tengu costume, Sasuke tried to hide in the shadows as he tries to avoid his pink haired team-mate as he waits for Naruto to show up since the blond usual acts as a kind of buffer between Sakura and himself. He watches the tent entrance, hoping to see his blond team-mate though he begins to take guesses at who's dressed up as what as he waits.

He had arrived about fifteen minutes to three so he could find a good hide-a-way to watch the proceedings from said hide-a-way. About five minutes to, a group of consisting of the Fifth Hokage, her apprentice, and a few Jonin he's seen during the Chunin examine, Anko and Ibiki as well as about eight others who he doesn't know. He notices the costume Lady Tsunade's currently dressed up in, around her waist seems to be the bottom part of a horse, just lacking a head, though it's more like a skirt then a costume…

Shizune, Lady Tsunade's apprentice, is wearing a costume that has a pair of small bat like wings on the leather vest that she's wearing over top of a mesh shirt. A pair of plastic goat like horns was likely sticking to her forehead with Chakra as a flimsy tail with a point like a spade hangs from the leather shorts that the older ninja's wearing. Jewellery seems to consist of silver looking human skulls and bones, the belt around Shizune's midsection had a skull for the belt clip while a pair of bracelets around her slender wrists had inter locking bones.

While he didn't have a clue what Shizune is dressed up as, he had noticed the approving looks Anko's giving Shizune. He studies Anko's costume next since she was the only other female of the group.

While he hadn't a good view of what's bellow Anko's shoulders, since she was on the other side of the group, he spots a pair of fuzzy ears perched on her head. Anko had drawn three whisker marks, similar to what Naruto has on his face. Anko's got a fuzzy 'suit' under a grey vest and from what he could see despite the people blocking his view, he counted at least one to two tails connected to her lower part of the costume. He's going with Kitsune since the fox spirits are known for having more then one tail.

The last of the group that he could name was Ibiki and the large amount of hair pretty much all he needed to see to know that the man was dressed up as a lion since that's what the wig looked like, a mane of a lion. It help that there was a tail with a fur puff at the end of it, something he knows lions have. Much like Anko, the man seems to be wearing a stretchy fur suit and slightly like but unlike Anko, around the man's waist was a loincloth where Anko had been wearing a pair of knee length shorts.

By the time three o'clock had come, council members as well as Jonin began to arrive in groups. Though he can't help but wonder if some of those Jonin he's seen enter could be active ANBU. As he considers that, he spots his old academy teacher, Iruka, arrive with a group of Chunin that also work at the academy.

Though, Iruka's costume is what really captured his attention since it seemed similar to his own costume only Iruka has a pair of white feather wings on his back and a silver vest covering his chest. The pants reminded him of the bottom of a kimono, though not as flared out at the bottom. Although he did wonder about that odd yellow coloured ring that's resting a few inches above his old teacher's head.

About after that group, a man with silver hair reading a certain book makes his entrance. The man's face was painted, around the bottom of his mouth, black paint covers up to the man's nose. Two blue vertical lines run over a scarred eye that includes on red line in between the two blue lines, the colors go all the way down to the man's jaw line.

Feathers and colourful beads had been breaded in the man's silver hair. Soft brown leather shirt with colourful designs were sown onto the shirt and over the man's right shoulder was the skin head of a reddish orange fox. The tail of the fox skin was tucked into the beaded leather belt around the familiar man's waist, along with two small pouches resting on either hip.

Below the man's waist were a pair of yellowish brown leather pants with the sides having strip of what appears to be beads done up in a geometric design. For foot wear, the man's yet again wearing brown leather boot looking boots. In the end, he couldn't believe that the man was his Jonin instructor but he couldn't deny it since only one person would read that novel out in public.

After a few feet into the tent, Kakashi looks away from his novel and glances in his direction, smiling at him for a few seconds before heading off to join a group hanging around one of the tables. He watches his teacher for a few minutes before returning to watching ninja enter into the giant tent.

A large group arrived wearing wolf costumes accompanied by dogs, he concludes that they're from Kiba's clan and found it unsurprising that they'd decide on costumes that symbolize their partnership with their canine companions.

Since then, he's seen Shikamaru show up in a robe carrying a staff over his one shoulder as well as in the company of Choji dressed up like a bull and appears to have a plastic mace hanging from his belt, Shikamaru's father in a deer costume, Choji's father in a bear costume, and some blond guy wearing a suit of odd looking armour complete with some large, likely plastic, sword strapped to his back that reminds him of their first C-ranked mission.

Hinata arrives wearing some odd looking cloths with bits looking like they were made out of leather as well as some odd looking ears carrying a bow, quiver of arrows, short sword around her waist and is in the company of her cousin, Neji who's dressed up like a white tiger with chocolate coloured stripes and like all those wearing animal costumes, wearing a loincloth around his waist.

A few seconds after the two Hyuuga arrive inside the tent, Lee, Tenten, and Shino arrive. Lee's costume seems to be some kind of winged lizard complete with a pair of horns, tail, and wearing a suit of leather armour over top of the scale outfit. Tenten is also wearing a dark green robe similar to Shikamaru's only it's got images of brown coloured leaves and she has some kind of fake bird perched on her staff.

Out of that group, Shino's costume seemed the most normal since it's got tall collar on the cape he's wearing and seemed to be wearing visor looking shades that cover most of his face. Black shirt button up shirt is over a creamy white undershirt with black dress pants. Shino also wearing a pendent of some bird's foot clutching a red gem. He's guessing that the odd looking pouch hanging from Shino's belt contains some odd weapon that does with the costume, though what Shino's dressed up as was beyond him.

His pink haired team-mate arrives dressed in her fox priestess costume just after the rest of the Jonin instructors for the rookies arrived. Unsurprisingly, Gai's dressed up as some green beast, though Kurenai and Asuma's costumes caused him to raise his eye brow since the costume Kurenai's wearing shows off her mature figure and doesn't hide much. And Asuma's dressed up in what appears to be a goat except he lacks the head part and the loincloth that most of the animal costumes do.

Kiba's the last of the Genin to show up, though he doesn't recall seeing Ino or Naruto appear unless they're wearing wigs to cover their natural blond hair. Although he's confident that despite his position, the Dobe should be able to find him with ease.

But by the time four o'clock arrives and it seems that there haven't been any new arrives in the last five minutes that something has likely happened to the blond idiot. _'He might be trying to decide if he should bring Ramen or something. The idiot.'_ He thinks privately to himself with a scowl appearing behind his mask.

"Yo, Sasuke! You going to join us or what?" He hears the non-blond loud mouth call out. It would seem that he's been found out and there wasn't much else to do other then join the large group of male Genin while the their female counterparts, which had a few other girls in it beyond Sakura and Tenten chatting away among themselves.

"Waiting for the idiot to arrive, huh?" Kiba asks and he says his standard, "Hn." "It is unlike him to be late." Choji supplies and those that know Naruto best all were in agreement.

"Ino's late too." Shikamaru observes and he had to keep from shuddering at the thought of his other major fan girl who's blond. "She might be trying to make a dramatic entrance." Kiba muses and they discuss that, though Shino and himself never added much to the discussion.

The first hint that something's wrong was when the fabric of the tent begins to glow and then the lights flash once more as they seem to become transformed into forks of lightning. Though he doubts that lightning is suppose to be brown, orange, red, or even dark green in color...

Not that he had much time to think about such things as a brown coloured lightning comes right at him, causing his body to go into a full body spasms, causing him to fall from his chair onto the ground. He would scream if he found himself in possession of a voice as his body begins to experience pain throughout his body.

The pain seemed to be all consuming as he can't remember much as his whole being tries to scream out. For all he knew, it was hours before the pain receded, allowing for him relief. It takes him a few minutes to realise that some people were screaming and there were shouts of alarm, he blinks as he rolls onto his back.

He finds himself feeling an odd sensation before sitting up. As he looks around, he finds that he's among a few ninja that seemed to have been on the floor as something took place. He opens his mouth and then closes it with an loud click sounds out when he does so.

He holds up his arms with his hand balled. Slowly he unclenches his fists and examines his claws that were now on the tips of his fingers. His arms seemed more tanned and had what appeared to be a scale pattern showing up in the right kind of light. He raises his left hand and begins to feel his own face.

He steels himself as he feels out his latest alteration. It seems that he's now got a short beak. He also finds that his hair has become slightly stiff and he could only guess what it looks like, he makes a mental note to find a mirror as soon as possible before moving on.

Since he's on the floor, he takes the time to look at his feet and he sighs as he curls his clawed tipped 'toes' which is now down to three large 'toes' and as he moves it onto the side, he spots a tiny forth 'toe' where his heel is. He stares at the black coloured claws before just closing his eyes and turning his face up at the ceiling of the tent before opening his eyes.

"Sasuke?" He hears his name being called and he turns to find a large white tiger like face looking down at him. "Neji?" He asks though his beak interferes slightly with his speaking ability.

"Do you have… that odd mark on your neck?" The tiger-man asks and he asks, "Why?" "I don't have my family seal on my forehead." The white tiger-man states in a matter of fact way and he moves his changed right hand to the clothing he has and moves it away. Although a tiny voice wondering how the Hyuuga knew about his cursed seal.

Neji moves and stares at it for a moment, before saying, "I thought so, it was a seal, wasn't it? I wonder if the others who found themselves on the floor also had such things on their bodies…" Neji the white tiger-man muses more to himself then for his benefited.

Under different circumstances he would have glared at the older genin and tell him to butt out of his problems but at this moment, he can't help but muse over a lot of possibilities and couldn't help but wonder about his 'tunnel' vision that suddenly became more concrete since that seal was placed on him…

Not that he was an upstanding member of the village to begin with but as he considers his actions since the Chunin examine, he couldn't help but find that something had altered his focus. He sighs and gets to his feet, he half mindedly watches as people tried to pull off newly fused pieces of themselves.

It took more then a few minutes before Lady Tsunade finally grows tired of all the mindless chatter and rears up on stages. The front hooves hit the wooden floor of the stage, the sound is drowned out as the Fifth Hokage bellows over the dim, "Quiet! Silences! This isn't getting us anywhere!"

Everybody quiets down and he cocks his head as he studies the Hokage's new lower body. It seems as if somebody cut off the major of the neck and head then cut off Tsunade's lower body before fusing the upper part of the Hokage's body with the lower half of the horse body. This horse body that's attached is that of a reddish brown mare in colour with two white markings on the two back legs as well as three out of the four hooves being creamy in colour other then black in colour.

"Now then, has anyone tried cancelling this with their chakra?" Lady Tsunade asks the now quiet crowd. He watches as a few make a basic handseal and shouts out, 'Kai!' Nothing happens and a few begin to murmur but stopped with a single glare from the Hokage.

"Then the next logical step is, are we missing people?" The Fifth asks and after a few minutes he shouts out, "I haven't seen Naruto yet." The crowd murmurs for a few minutes before Sakura calls out, "Ino's missing too, I haven't seen her since we parted ways as we headed home."

"I should have known." Lady Tsunade growls and then declares, "Everyone, spread out and begin searching for the two. I'll be staying behind so if you find them, bring them here and we'll get them to dispel this jutsu."

The crowd shuffles its way out of the tent, he would have frown if it weren't for the beak. "Sasuke? What's wrong?" Sakura asks and he takes a moment before answering, "I can't activate my Sharingan… That seal on my neck is gone too. I don't think this is a jutsu, and besides, we both know that Naruto sucks at Genjutsu and I doubt that Ino would help Naruto with this prank either. Naruto's stopped pranking the village once he got his head band."

"I guess and I don't think Ino's studied much of Genjutsu since the Chunin examine too." Sakura muses worriedly. He studies Sakura's new form, the pink hair was gone and replacing it was bright ruby red hair.

Her eyes have become a warm amber and were similar to a cat or, to be accurate, like a fox. Her face remain human looking, only with a slight touch of a tan colouring her skin. Fox ears were resting on the side of her head, the black tips pointed down; giving them a droopy look though they blend in well with her new hair colour.

His eyes drop to her fingers and found that the nails haven't changed much other then looking more pointed. He couldn't tell how much her body has altered under the cloths that she's wearing but he wouldn't be surprised if she now sported a fox tail. With a sigh, he turns to look at the others, there weren't many who kept their human looks, but there were plenty of others that no longer seem human, which now likely includes himself.

"Well, let's go, we don't want to be left behind. We might come up with ideas as we search for the blond duo." He declares and Sakura smiles softly as she nods in agreement. He watches as she begins to head for the exit, he follows after a few seconds, his eyes around her waist, wondering if the fox tail hidden under those cloths was slender looking or bushy looking. . .

- - -

Point of View**:** Ino

After a while, the blond ninja turned fairy named Ino finally grows bored with fleeing so she turns her head to see where Naruto was behind her and is highly pleased that the other blond ninja turn mythical beast seems to have been able to keep up.

A new idea blooms within her mind and, totally forgetting why they were running, with a burst of speed she weaves through the tree trunks, giggling merrily as she does, glancing backward every now and again to see if Naruto's capable of keeping up with her.

After a few minutes of this, Naruto finally stops by a large waterfall and calls out to her, "Ok, are you doing this because it's a new game or do you think we're begin followed?" She blinks and within seconds she's hovering before the humanoid unicorn that is Naruto Uzumaki.

"I wanted to see if you could keep up by the end there." She admits to the taller being, after all, it just seemed so . . . wrong to lie to him. For a moment she briefly wonders why that is before dismissing it.

After all, Naruto's in the same ship as she is, true, they're costumes were totally different but they never expected for them to become what they dressed as. "So, what do you think went wrong with your illusion?" Naruto asks as Naruto's ears move around, scanning for sounds of pursuit.

"Honestly?" She asks and Naruto cocks his head slightly to the side with his arms crossed over his chest. "I haven't the foggiest clue as to what went wrong!" She declares cheerfully causing Naruto's muzzle to fall to his chest with a groan.

"You do realise that you're acting childish, right?" Naruto asks as Naruto's left hand runs over Naruto's new forehead with his right on his hip. She blinks a few times and as she thinks about it, her frail looking wings flutter faster.

'_Ok, so, when did this begin? Well, duh, since the costume alter my body.'_ She sums up as she rolls her eyes, she couldn't believe what a fudie dudie she had been before all of this as she thinks about to her live before today.

Then a new thought bloomed in her mind and within seconds, she's circling Naruto around once more, trying to get what should be a typical reaction out of the usually knucklehead. "Why are you doing that?" Naruto asks with a hint of annoyance tinting his voice.

"I'm not the only one acting out of character!" She sings out before giggling as she hovers about a foot from the Unicornman. Naruto blinks on hearing that and then Naruto looks alarmed before cursing out as his tail swishes side to side, "Uh, oh."

"Huh." She says with a grin on her face. "So, then, do you really want to talk about out of character actions or do you want to talk about what we should do now?" She says as Naruto begins to pace.

With a sigh, Naruto stops pacing and looks thoughtful for a few seconds before saying, "I guess if we really need to, I'm sure that if we were to head for Wave Country, I'm sure we can stay with this old client until we think of something, like how to reverse their transformations."

"I've never been to Wave Country… I vote we go with that idea!" She declares, though Naruto doesn't look too surprised with her automatic agreement with the first thing he throw out. "There's only two of us, so it's not much of a democracy going on between us." Naruto says simply before scratching the back of his head.

"So, what's the problem now?" She demands and Naruto asks, "Well, how do you propose we leave the village while they're on high alert for us?" She gives him her best sober look as she says, "Well, we know what I'm capable of; it's your turn to pull a few tricks out of your sleeves."

"As if I 'magically' teleport us out of here." Naruto says with his hands crossed over his chest. Once Naruto had said that, his horn flashes white and before they know what was happening, they find themselves not by the waterfall but in a new set of surroundings.

"I guess you can." She says cheekily at him.

- - -

Point of View**:** Sasuke

After hours of searching, Sasuke and Sakura encounter their teacher, Kakashi waves them over. They cross the street, heading towards their jonin instructor.

"According to my . . . sources, Ino and Naruto have somehow left the surrounding area though mystical means. So, before we head back to the tent, I've decided to see if my sources are right and ultimately, our answers lie with a certain shop keeper." Kakashi says and then Sakura and himself share a look before shrugging.

"Why not." Sakura says and he begins to walk towards the costume shop, reading the place they're heading to from Kakashi's 'hints'. But then he stops and turns to study their teacher.

"Your eye…" He says and their teacher replies, "Oh, well, yea, it's… fixed." Sakura's eyes widen as she looks into Kakashi's face and gasps as she realises what happened to Kakashi's Sharingan eye. "But how could it be… fixed? I mean, you're not drained!" The usual pink haired ninja wonders out loud.

"It seems that whatever happened to us is keeping us from using bloodline limits and chakra. Hopefully, we'll get our answers from the shop owner." Kakashi says. With that being said, they continued on their way to the shop.

It didn't take long despite the fact that they couldn't use chakra to roof hop to the shop that allows them to by pass the ground routes. It didn't take too long for them to arrive at the shop. Although there's a closed sign hanging on the door, it doesn't stop them from moving out of the way, giving Kakashi enough room to kick the door down.

Once they were in the shop that's been stripped bare, the owner says, "I was wondering when somebody was going to arrive to question me." The owner of the shop then gulps down a glass of something that appears to be red in colour. "Then I'm sure you know how to undo what's been done to us." Kakashi says in a frank voice.

"I know who you need to find to undo it, yes, but I can't undo it since it's beyond my abilities. After all, Fairy magic did this and only Fairy magic can reverse it." The man answers as the man begins to mix himself another drink using the different bottles on the counter.

"So then, only Naruto can undo it." He says and the owner laughs once he says that. "Oh no, your friend isn't a fairy, he's a unicorn, a totally different being with a different set of abilities. I'm talking about the blond girl who came in with the… husky boy and bored looking ninja wearing a green vest, Ino I think her name is."

He blinks before saying, "This sounds like something Naruto would do…" The shop owner sighs and explains, "Fairies are known for mischief of this variety, they're known for their ability to alter things out of either sear boredom or because somebody offended them in some way." The shop owner finishes with the bottles and after using a stir stick, drinks the mix.

"They're flighty and highly vain with very good reason since they have a tendency to be very beautiful. Sound familiar?" The man asks and Sakura just sighs while he gives her a questioning look. "And a Unicorn?" Kakashi asks.

"Lets see, off the top of my head, I'd say naïve, high-spirited, very caring yet a tendency towards solitary lives, healing abilities, and inability for men to tame them no matter what tricks used against them." The man says and he sighs as he says, "I'll give you naïve, high-spirited, and healing abilities, but I don't see solitary bone in his body."

"Don't you? I found him to be a very private individual despite being loud and bold in the short time he was in the shop." Once more the man gulps down the shot before continuing, "As for solitary, it's not written that they themselves want to be solitary; I wouldn't be surprised if such a life has been forced on him. I'd also say that that you're friend fits the description to a T, that's including the part of being attracted to virgins."

He felt his jaw dropping at the 'virgins' part while Sakura just sighs. Kakashi on the other hand, "I would have thought him more of a fox then what you're describing…" The man shrugs as he answers Kakashi's inquiry, "I can see where you'd get that but regardless, the simple fact that he was able to get that costume says otherwise."

"Truth be told that I would have kept the Fairy costume if I could and it wouldn't have followed the girl out of the shop in one way or another." The man says, changing the subject, going back to Ino's involvement. "Why do you say that?" He asks the man.

"You see, those mystery costumes I was offering weren't the type I was selling, they were met to alter the ones that opened the boxes, to be transformed into their 'truer' selves. Even if your friend Ino does return your group back to their normal selves, Ino can't stop being a fair and your friend won't stop being a unicorn, which leads to the saying of misery and company, huh?" The man says.

"You're leaving now, aren't you?" Kakashi asks and the man hums as the owner begins to put the bottles away as well as the shot glass. "We could stop you." He says and causes the man to bark out in laughter for a few seconds before calming down. "You're all unfamiliar with your new selves and I've already set up my escape plans even if you weren't, after all, I've have more experience with this sort of thing they you do." The man says once all the items on the counter were in his bag.

"Name's Dusan, Dusan Taggart. Hope you find them, just remember what I said about the fairy, she'll be the harder of the two to deal with, your friend Naruto will likely be a heck of a lot more reasonable then she will when you've found them." The owner says as Dusan shoulders the bag and with a backward wave, the man vanishes in a flash of light as Dusan walks through the doorway leading into the back room.

"Well, that was sure informative, wasn't it?" He says testily.

- - -

Point of View**:** Naruto

Three Years Later

"Do you know how long we've been searching for you two?" The question is directed to Ino and himself, Naruto Uzumaki. "Hey Sasuke, how've you been?" He asks the birdman, wondering if he should just teleport Ino and himself away from this, especially considering he doesn't like the odd glint in the other's eye.

Ino huffs and puffs as she hovers in front of them, he can tell that Sasuke hadn't come alone either. "I don't know, a year or maybe it was two years?" Ino says. "It's been three." He hears an almost familiar voice growl out; he turns and finds Sakura the fox priestess stepping out of the underbrush.

He's about to say something in hopes of smoothing things over before Ino lets loose with 'righteous' vengeance after the few close calls they had over the pass three years. He had tried to tell her that the elder Uchiha had belong to a group that wasn't part of Hidden Leaf, who's mission it was to 'steal' nine demons out of human vessels for some malevolent purpose but she had long since decided it was an elaborate cover to set up a reserve on the moon, he didn't even want to know how she came to that conclusion, for endangered antler rabbits, ok he had seen a few of those, by playing two different legal fronts the official and unofficial.

"I think we…" He was cut off as Ino's wings make a chiming sound after blurring for a second. "I think we all know what you are all here for and I'm not going to allow you guys to carry through with your plans!" Ino declares boldly while he just sighs in exasperation at that.

He notes that Sasuke and Sakura exchange looks for a second before Sakura saying, "Well then, at least undo your spell on your father!" Ino's position in the air decreases slightly, likely due to Ino's state of confusion. "Spell? I thought you're here for that rabbit reserve on the moon!" Ino says and he groans while somebody falls out of a tree they were hiding in.

The expression on Sasuke's face was pretty much priceless as Kiba stalks out of the undergrowth with Akamaru. "Why would we want to create a rabbit reserve on the moon? There's tons of rabbits living on this world already!" Kiba growls out, looking quiet impressive with his fangs bare for all the world to see.

"I'm not talking about ordinary rabbits; I'm talking about those with antlers on their heads!" Ino exclaims, he could already picture the look of out rage on her face. "There's no such thing as deer rabbits." Sakura says and Ino flies close to Sakura as she says, "There are so!"

"There are not!" Sakura says in a slightly calm voice.

"Are so!" Ino says through gritted teeth.

"Are not!"

"Are so!"

"Are not!"

"Are so!"

The pair bicker back and forth in a childish manner, not all surprising considering what Ino is.

"You mean that's why she thought we were…?" Kiba asks and he nods. "Yea, though I haven't the faintest idea where she got the notion about a moon reserve but I've seen the rabbits she's talking about though." He admits to the two that weren't in their hiding spots.

"You're kidding, you _saw_ these rabbit?" Sasuke asks and he nods. "Yea, I have, though I haven't seen them out of Snow Country." He says and Kiba asks, "Are you sure what you saw wasn't some kind of illusion?" He shrugs as he answers, "I saw them about a foot from me during a full moon while Ino had a fairy fire going."

"…" He could tell that neither of them knew how to answer that. "You two are whacked." Kiba growls and he just shrugs. "Uh huh, sure we are." He says in a sarcastic way which just causes the werewolf to growl threatening at him.

"Look, is she willing to undo the spell or not?" Sasuke asks as the two girls continue their debate. He can't help but shrug, though as the scent of magic reaches his nose, two different scents with one belonging to Shikamaru and Tenten. He mentally sighs, he had hoped this meeting out stay peaceful.

As roots and shadows shoot towards them, he sighs as he activates the teleportation ability, teleporting Ino and himself to where their good friend Temujin from their adventure with the Gelel stones. "Oh great! Now how am I supposed to win that argument now?" Ino demands as she turns to face him.

"Well… You could always ask Temujin about that, I'm sure he's got an idea of how you can." He says and Ino perks up as her wings flutter in excitement. "We're going to visit him? Now?" Ino asks and he hums in agreement.

"I thought we needed new lands to explore." He says smoothly since it seems that Ino hadn't noticed the entrapment spells heading their way. Like usual, Ino begins to forget about what happened between Sakura and herself as they head off in the direction that screams Temujin. It'll be a while before he'll teleport them back to the Elemental countries.

Maybe in about five years, they'll head back or maybe not. After all, there's whole world for them to explore and why should they limit themselves to only one continent when there were more then one? _'Let's not forget about Islands too. I'm sure there's plenty to see and do before we find a reason to head back to the countries where Ninja roam.'_ He muses privately, after all, what better way to experience it but with a friend? Better yet, a lovely girl who's seems to return his affections?

They had grown close during the last three years and while Sakura would have a place in his heart, he's moved on and if he's any judge, Ino's never real been that interested in Sasuke as much as she claimed she was.

'_I wonder what our children will look like when we decide the time is right to start a family…'_ He muses as he follows the blond fairy in the general direction of their friend.

**To Readers:**

Just a gentle reminder to review!


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